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Oil leak help: I'm looking for similar experiences or suggestions. I have a 2005 645. In the last several months, I've replaced the valve cover gaskets, the lower oil pan gasket, the oil pump and pressure switch. Today I learned that oil is leaking from the upper timing covers and perhaps the valve covers themselves need to be replaced if they are warped. I'm also concerned that the lower timing covers will go since it's about the only place left that could leak.

I'm currently at about $5000 and it could double if all this works needs to be done.

This is very common for a BMW of this age. Whoever changed your valve cover gaskets, should have changed the upper timing cover gaskets at the same time. Parts for the upper timing cover gaskets is only 25.00, & the labor would probably have been an extra 500.00. The lower timing cover gaskets usually do well. Chances are that your alternator o-ring is leaking, & it has been missed. Dealer's usually charge around 700.00 for the labor on this. The o-ring is only around 3.00. If you remove the lower plastic panel, you can inspect the alternator o-ring with a flashlight. Here is a couple of pics.

This is very helpful. Unfortunately when they did the valve cover gaskets, they did not do the upper timing gasket. I'm disappointed because I really like the people that did the work but it is getting sooo expensive now that they have to go in again...and again...and again.

@Cj2005645, got the same car and had the same problem, mine had 70,000ish miles at the time, got 75,000ish on it now. Cost me a little over $5,000, the first time he quoted me 5,000, came home it was still leaking, second time charged another 500ish... feel like i got ripped off, take it to a reputable BMW mechanic. I don't got my first repair order, but the second one they repaired
- Gasket price - $1.27
-Oil Filter Cover -$35.05
-Ear Clamp - $2.75
-Pentosin Hydraulic Fluid - $22.95
Total of parts came to 72.47
Labor was 514.69

idk how to attach the pictures, just joined bimmerfest

The picture is the broken alternator seal that he gave me, and said this is what was causing the leak.

I'm learning a lot in the last 24 hours. The dealership just called and confirmed what the independent shop told me: after replacing the valve cover gaskets and the lower oil pan gasket, now it's the upper timing cover ($2500). Where it get's scary is what could happen but hasn't yet. If the lower timing cover goes, that's $7500 and basically forces them to redo both the upper timing and valve covers again (where I spent the first $50000.

The good news is that the place that has worked on it already seems willing to give me a severely discounted rate.

Oil cover gasket start failing around 50k miles. You might have gotten this car at a good price, but these toys are expensive to maintain. If you can do the work yourself, it gets a lot cheaper! Keep your mechanic accountable for his mistakes!

Herb has it right, we have seen a lot more of this of late. As these cars have dropped in price and people are picking them up they are finding the pitfalls of German Engineering and high end vehicles.

Holding your mechanic accountable is easy to say but hard to do. They have the upper hand, if you get your car home and it starts leaking again they can just say it is another gasket and you had 2 problems. Believe me I know. You can never go there again, but to make them repair the second one and rebate you the misdiagnosed original cost is virtually impossible. It all depends on the owner I suppose.

I feel for the OP, but the statement about a Lemon Law struck me the most. On a 7 year old car?

Oil cover gasket start failing around 50k miles. You might have gotten this car at a good price, but these toys are expensive to maintain. If you can do the work yourself, it gets a lot cheaper! Keep your mechanic accountable for his mistakes!

Good luck!

Amen to that! I wonder why these gaskets start failing right when the warranty is up? Is it profit motive?

I suspect that the material that BMW uses, are prone to fail in a certain heat cycle. The extended oil changes at 15k miles probably helps cause the oil to oxidize more rapidly, causing an acidic change in the oil. I think that this is also effecting premature valve seal failures?

My 650 has the same issue. The task itself does not look to major to repair. I purchased my car for pretty cheap knowing that I would have to pick up the difference in doing my own repairs. I can afford the repairs from the dealer, but can't justify the actual costs of them. I prefer to do the work myself anyway. I'm going to do the Cylinder Head Cover Gasket, The upper Timing Chain Gasket and the alternator bracket O-Ring (looks nothing like an O or ring for that matter) this weekend.

I was thinking that I just had the valve cover gasket leaking down on to the alternator but after this thread I think that my alternator gasket is bad too. When I put the dye through the alternator was covered with oil just from running it for about 5 minutes. Does this sound like a common symptom? Also is it a fairly easy fix

The alternator o-ring replacement is around a 6 to 8 hour repair. The motor mount on the driver side must be removed, the alternator removed, the alternator bracket must be removed, power steering must be dropped, & the radiator cooling fan needs to be removed. Once you get to the o-ring, put some ATV back around the o-ring, or you might get to replace it again!

I've done this particular job, and HerbP was very helpful in the process. He is not kidding when he says PITA. If you plan on doing the Cylinder Head Cover Gasket as well, consider getting some of the o-rings for the Fuel Injectors. When you pull them out some may need replacing and some may get lost. I was putting my car back together on a Sunday morning and had to wait till Monday to get the parts, then I didn't have time to finish until the next weekend. My car had some oil lines that didn't seem to show up on the diagrams. Discovered they were simply oil cooling lines. I believe these are in the models made for the gulf cost area, and you may not have the same lines. Here is the Thread whe HerbP helped walk me through the process.http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/sho...684&highlight=

I have a number of pictures if you would like me to post some let me know. My car ended up being apart for 2 weeks (3 weekends) due to needing something from the Dealer and not realizing it until the dealer was closed, DOH! it shoudl not take that long I just was not prepared, and wanetd to complete several things at once.

There is a Coolant line that attaches to the Fan Cowl above the Transmission oil coolant lines, you may or may not have these. This one caused me some headache as there are multiple clips to remove the coolant hoses. I managed to not get them quite right and it took me a while to track down the coolant leak after I got the car back together. Once back together, there is limited space availble for putting it back together correctly, grin. Here is a picture. i'm only posting this because it was not something I anticipated when putting it back together the clips just seemed to fit, but it wasn't grin. Good luck.

Oh One more thing. When picking up the O-Ring for the Alternator bracket, there were two options, not just one for my car. It was less than $5.00 for both, I woudl go ahead and get both if they offer you two options. The one they said it should be at the dealer was nto the one it actually was.

Hey guys I started working on the vehicle today my plans were to do the valve cover gaskets, timing cover gasket, and the alternator bracket gasket. As of right now I have worked on the vehicle for approximately 3 hours and have Been able to take off the driver side valve cover gasket and started working on the timing cover gasket. I have been running into a problem locating an easy way to get out the fifth bolt on the timing cover gasket. It appears that the bolt is located behind the alternator bracket. Is there an easy way to get this out without removing the alternator bracket or do I need to remove the alternator bracket in order to get out the last bolt on the timing cover. It seems like I am doing something wrong because everywhere I see it only calls for approximately 2 hours to replace the timing cover gaskets. I think what I am going to do tomorrow is start working on the alternator bracket to completely free up that area and see if I can get to the bolt on the timing cover gasket easier. Any advice would be helpful thanks.

When you did the alternator bracket did you have to lift the motor in order to get to the rear bolt on the power steering? I attempted to do this over the weekend but was running out of time to try and get the power steering dropped. I could not even see the rear bolt let alone get access to it. Any suggestions?

Yes. To get to the Alternator Bracket you will have to remove the Motor mount. Look the thread mentioned above in #19. I used a jack to hold the engine up for me. It actually wasn't as bad as I had thought it would be. Once you get the motor mount out there is quite a bit more room as well.

Oil leaks are a nightmare and an Unfortunate common problem with these BMW's. My 745i was plagued with them and its never a Cheap quick fix. Everything from valve covers, crank case vent valves, timing case covers, alternator gasket etc etc. You can get a good deal on an older car, but in my opinion, it isn't worth the hassle. I swore I would never buy an older BMW again outside of CPO. When the leak start... Run for the hills!!!!